Senators battle over tech worker visas

Silicon Valley tech companies are aggressively seeking looser requirements to “hire American workers first” to fill tech jobs, potentially splitting the bipartisan Gang of Eight coalition that put together the huge immigration bill. The Senate Judiciary Committee worked through a series of tech-related amendments Tuesday that revealed divisions over the issue in both parties.

The bill expands H-1b visas from 65,000 to 110,000 a year, and as high as 180,000 if demand is high. The bill also eases the way to permanent residency for these workers as well as immigrants who have earned an advanced degree from a U.S. university in science, technology, engineering or math. The bill would eliminate per-country backlogs of green card applications that have kept many H-1b workers from attaining permanent residency.

At the same time, the bill restricts the use of H-1b visas by Indian outsourcing firms, or any company that is overly “dependent” on H-1b workers. Tech companies have sought these provisions for years. Facebook and Google have been especially prominent in shaping the bill, spending millions of dollars this year lobbying.

Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, is championing the tech position, while Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, wants tougher restrictions, often with help from Sen. Richard Durbin, R-Ill. Grassley and Durbin have long argued that H-1b visas undermine the wages of American tech workers.

The tension was on vivid display on a Grassley amendment that would have required all companies to make a “good faith effort” to hire Americans first for tech jobs instead of turning to H-1b’s.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, (D-CA),. and several other Democrats, including Sheldon Whitehouse (RI), Patrick Leahy (VT) and Al Franken (MN) expressed sympathy for the idea. Feinstein recalled a meeting she had in San Diego with American workers, “all above age 50, all had been replaced by H-1b workers,” Feinstein said. “You saw it clearly, they were traditional engineers, the technology had moved on,” and companies instead wanted, “young, flexible, highly qualified techies, generally Asian in California. I felt very badly for these people. If you’re above the age of 50 it’s very hard for an American to get another job.”

Feinstein said all the amendment required is that a company try “to recruit a qualified American worker. What’s wrong with that?”

Gang of Eight Democrat Chuck Schumer (NY) said such a rule would be too “elastic,” asking, “How do you prove good faith?” He said a company could interview seven people but the government might decide it should have interviewed 14.

The amendment was considered a poison pill that could bring down the entire bill. Sympathetic Democrats said they would vote down the amendment to save the overall bill, but expressed a desire to work out a compromise later.

Robert Hoffman, head of government relations for the Information Technology Industry Council, a tech trade group, said tech companies are adamant about preserving their hiring flexibility, without bureaucratic scrutiny or the threat of litigation.

“The requirements are such that…companies could have each hiring decision scrutinized,” Hoffman said, even if the vast majority of the company’s workforce are Americans. He compared such “hire Americans first” efforts to telling director Stephen Spielberg that he had to interview American actors before hiring Daniel Day Lewis to play Abraham Lincoln.

“You’re telling IBM that they can’t hire the top person at MIT until they’ve offered the job to an American first,” Hoffman said. He said companies would respond by hiring the foreigner anyway and placing him or her overseas, at a loss to the United States. “Canada will say, come on, bring them here,” Hoffman said.

The committee easily approved an amendment to increase green card fees for skilled workers from $500 to $1000, to pay for educating U.S. students in technology fields, especially the disadvantaged and women. Most of the money would go to states to develop programs in science, technology, engineering and math, the so-called STEM fields.